Mesa's Cubs facilities may get $750,000 in upgrades

While Mesa and Florida duke it out to see which will be the future spring-training home of the Chicago Cubs, Mesa is laying $750,000 on the table to improve the team's facilities at Fitch Park.

The City Council on Monday night is expected to approve spending up to that amount for two 5,000-square-foot buildings that will each accommodate two covered batting cages.

While the project is not directly aimed at convincing the Cubs to stay, Mayor Scott Smith said it can't hurt.

The Cubs and Mesa have been talking about the batting cages for a couple of years, Smith said - discussions that started before Florida made a serious bid to uproot the team from its spring-training home.

"Certainly our willingness to take care of the situation now, I hope, is seen in a positive light by the Cubs," Smith said.

"This is a demonstration that when you have a 50-year-plus relationship, it's constantly taking care of needs," he said. "We've done this before and will continue to do this in the future."

Fitch currently has two covered batting cages and four open ones. The Cubs want them all covered because modern batting practice uses sophisticated cameras and other equipment that could be damaged by the elements.

Covered cages also would allow players to practice even in miserable weather, which is not uncommon as players arrive in February.

Beth Huning, Mesa's chief engineer, said Mesa is paying only for the buildings, not for the electronic gear that helps analyze a player's batting swing.

The buildings could cost that much, she said, because they'll involve electrical hookups, foundation and structural supports, sturdy roofs and sides extending partway to the ground. There will also be netting to keep balls from flying all over the park.

Money for the project will come from contingency funds, according to a report Huning wrote for the council.

The procedure for authorizing the work is somewhat unusual.

Normally when the council approves a construction or purchasing contract, a specific vendor and dollar amount already have been identified through a bidding process.

This time, however, the city is working on a tight deadline: The cages must be ready before Feb. 14, when players begin to arrive.

State rules governing the bidding process will delay selection of a contractor until the third week of December, which means the council wouldn't be able to vote on the contract until its first meeting of the new year, on Jan. 11.

So Monday's vote is actually a resolution authorizing City Manager Chris Brady to OK the final contract, which could cost less than $750,000.

The Chicago Tribune reported this week, meanwhile, that the Cubs are considering whether to help pay for a proposed spring-training complex near Naples, Fla.

But the story also said, "Indications are that the Naples proposal is something of a long shot because the Cubs have spent the winter months in Mesa, Ariz., since the 1950s. . . . Conventional wisdom suggests the Cubs are using Naples as a bargaining chip to get the best financial deal in Arizona."

Smith has said taxpayer money will not be used to build a new Cubs stadium if the Cubs opt to stay. When team officials visited Mesa last month they met with several developers offering to partner with the team and the city to create what Smith has called a "Wrigleyville West" somewhere in the Loop 202 corridor.